Review: Half Lost (The Half Bad Trilogy, #3)

You know the stories where the ending is all they-live-happily-ever-after? Well, Half Lost (The Half Bad Trilogy, #3) by Sally Green isn’t one of those stories.

This is the final battle.

The Alliance is losing the war, and their most critical weapon, seventeen-year-old witch Nathan Byrn, is losing his mind. Nathan’s tally of kills is rising, and yet he’s no closer to ending the tyrannical rule of the Council of White Witches in England. Nor is Nathan any closer to his personal goal: getting revenge on Annalise, the girl he once loved before she committed an unthinkable crime. An amulet protected by the extremely powerful witch Ledger could be the tool Nathan needs to save himself and the Alliance, but this amulet is not so easily acquired. And lately Nathan has started to suffer from visions: a vision of a golden moment when he dies, and of an endless line of Hunters, impossible to overcome. Gabriel, his closest companion, urges Nathan to run away with him, to start a peaceful life together. But even Gabriel’s love may not be enough to save Nathan from this war, or from the person he has become.

Set in modern-day Europe, the final book in the Half Bad trilogy is more than a story about witches. It’s a heart-achingly visceral look at survival and exploitation, the nature of good and evil, and the risks we take for love.

The Good

  • Underlying Theme – I think the underlying themes in this entire series has been good, but I wanted to really highlight it in this review. Green does a great job about introducing topics such as discrimination, and being able to really extend them throughout the entire story. Some authors introduce themes at the beginning of a book or series and then let them get lost in shuffle and pushed aside. However, Green never does this. The reader is fully aware of the awareness and prejudice throughout the series. Nathan is constantly being the victim of discrimination because he’s a Half-Code and I loved how Green portrayed this.
  • Plot – If you like stories where the plot gets dark, messy, and kind of depressing, then you will love how the plot of this trilogy develops throughout all three books. But in Half Lost, shit gets really dark. Revenge, murder, and inner demons are all alive and well here. Let’s be honest, Nathan doesn’t have the happiest of lives.
  • The Ending – Dammit, that ending wrecked me. It was both beautiful and sad, and I really wasn’t prepared for it.

The Bad

  • The Romance – Yes, yes, yes… I’m still not completely sold with this relationship. I mean it’s portrayed wonderfully and all, but I just still have a hard time with it. I feel like I missed the buildup and because of that, I can’t fully get behind it. It started too soon and ended too soon.
  • Messy Climax – I feel that the final battle and culmination of this entire series was just a bit messy. I think things were wrapped up too easily and lacked information that would have helped answer some questions that I still had. I think this could be said for quite a few trilogy finales, actually.

Overall, this was a great book and series. I enjoyed the darker aspects of the characters and plot. I thought it was also a really unique approach to the overdone witches storyline. It was also much more mature than your typical YA paranormal series which I really appreciated. And for me, the cons weren’t enough to detract from my overall experience with this book. Yay!

Final Verdict: 5/5 Stars


Have you read Half Lost? What are your thoughts on this series? Do you think I’m being too generous with my rating?

Musing Mondays – October 24th, 2016

Musing Mondays is a weekly theme hosted by the lovely MizB @ Books and a Beat, that asks you to answer one of the prompt questions and that week’s random question.

PROMPTS:

  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) this past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Take a guess at what might happen in the book you’re currently reading.


I bought the following book(s) this past week…

I feel like this is like one of my most chosen prompts each week but I can’t help it. I have a seriously horrible habit about buying way too many books. Which definitely wasn’t helped by Book Outlet having a sale last week! So thank you, Book Outlet, for feeding my insatiable book buying appetite and for helping be my topic for this week’s Musing Monday!

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Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy, #1) by Rae Carson

I actually read this book back in the spring when I checked it out from the library. But now that I’ve bought a copy of the second book in the trilogy, I figured I had to have the entire collection! You can read my review of it HERE.

Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.

The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.

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Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto

I really think that I’m on a Western kick right now. The last few Westerns that I’ve read have all been really good. And when you add steampunk and the fantastical to it? I need it!

The two-bit town of Rogue City is a lawless place, full of dark magic and saloon brawls, monsters and six-shooters. But it’s perfect for seventeen-year-old Westie, the notorious adopted daughter of local inventor Nigel Butler.

Westie was only a child when she lost her arm and her family to cannibals on the wagon trail. Nine years later, Westie may seem fearsome with her foul-mouthed tough exterior and the powerful mechanical arm built for her by Nigel, but the memory of her past still haunts her. She’s determined to make the killers pay for their crimes—and there’s nothing to stop her except her own reckless ways.

But Westie’s search ceases when a wealthy family comes to town looking to invest in Nigel’s latest invention, a machine that can harvest magic from gold—which Rogue City desperately needs as the magic wards that surround the city start to fail. There’s only one problem: the investors look exactly like the family who murdered Westie’s kin. With the help of Nigel’s handsome but scarred young assistant, Alistair, Westie sets out to prove their guilt. But if she’s not careful, her desire for revenge could cost her the family she has now.

This thrilling novel is a remarkable tale of danger and discovery, from debut author Michelle Modesto.

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The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

Romeo and Juliet was never my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, but this book just sounds way too good to pass up!

For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows—the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find.

Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she’s been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees.

Beautifully written, and richly imaginative, The Weight of Feathers is an utterly captivating young adult novel by a talented new voice.

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Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

Peter Pan retelling?! Yes, please!

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.

But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.

The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.

With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?

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The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2) by Samantha Shannon

I think I may have to reread the first book in this series before reading this one, because I don’t really remember anything at all about it other than that I loved it.

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London…

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

 Take a guess at what might happen in the book you’re currently reading.

Well I started Paper and Fire (The Great Library, #2) by Rachel Caine last night. I have a feeling that our favorite group of rebellious teens are going to break in to the Alexandrian Library and do a little prison rescue. I’m really excited about this second book, as I’m only about 70 pages into it and it’s been non-stop excitement from the first page. I highly recommend this series to any fans of alternate history, steampunk, or dystopian. The second book just came out in July so you aren’t far behind if you start on it now!


What books have you bought lately? Have you read any of the ones from my book haul? Leave a link to your Musing Monday in the comments below!